Sword Art Online
by YoshidaEiji
Summary: 10,000 players are trapped victim of the death game, Sword Art Online. Players are inspired to keep going for different reasons, one person, goes on his journey for the sole purpose of being the best there is. See the story unfold under the perspective of a very competitive player.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**_  
_

_Step back, block, step forward swing, a simple yet very effective technique._

_When fighting your enemies, one can't simply charge at them with wild swings and pray for a hit. One must analyze their opponent's moves and find the right opening at the right time._

It was these reasons that I became the fierce opponent that I am today, but it wasn't always like this, every legend starts from somewhere.

It was a cold November morning, the air had just started getting much colder, preparing for the winter to come, and I, along with many other people, was standing in line, waiting to get my hands on the new age of technology.

The NerveGear, a simple design with the capability of taking you to a whole new world, was the highlight of gaming history in 2022. With it, according to designer, Akihiko Kayaba, all five of your senses would be utilized in the true virtual reality that he gives the appropriate nickname, FullDive. By putting the body in a dreamlike state, much like a REM cycle, the NerveGear sends different waves of information that's processed by the brain, and is then shown in the virtual world. In fact, it's even said that people who may be deaf, or blind, would still be able to see and hear using the NerveGear.

The NerveGear started small, with flight simulators being the games that were released with it, but when there was a rumor of an MMORPG in the making, everyone was excited, which brings me to today, November 5, 2022. Though the servers aren't open till tomorrow, today's the day that the NerveGear, along with Sword Art Online, could be bought. At the time, it didn't make sense why they would release it the day before, however, after hooking everything up, I quickly realized that the tedious calibration process, which I had to undergo a few times due to messing up, took quite a bit of time.

After spending the last two hours with the calibration, I was ready to log into the game, though the servers were still down, the manual, which I normally don't read but this is a completely new system to me, highly recommended that I made my avatar as soon as possible, and I'm glad I did.

Due to the perfect 3D environment, the avatar creation gave you amazing customizability, instead of choosing your avatar from pre-made styles, you practically construct it, just the way you want! Normally in MMORPG's, I choose to play a female, mainly because they are more fun to look at when spending hours staring at the avatar you make. However, considering that the entire game is in the first-person perspective, and I can literally make the male anyway I want, I decided to go ahead and be a male avatar for once.

I'm not sure how long I spent making my avatar, but when I was finally finished, I noticed that the sun was reflecting a yellow-orange tint into my room. I looked at the clock, which was about 1:00 when I started the calibration process, it's neon blue numbers showing that it was 6:00. I had spent five hours creating my character. I wasn't really surprised thinking about the customizability, and was thankful that tomorrow was a weekend. I decided to head downstairs for breakfast, when my little brother barged into my room.

"Oh! You're awake!" Both the look of surprise and concern was in his eyes.

"Yeah? Why wouldn't I be?" I raised an eyebrow at him.

"You were just asleep for a while, that's all." He shrugs. "Anyway, breakfast is ready, so I thought I'd let you know." He waves and leaves my room as abruptly as he entered.

Well, I am hungry so it's a good thing... Then it hit me. _Breakfast?!_ I looked at the clock again, and after a closer examination, I realized that the clock indicated AM. I hadn't spent nearly 5 hours making a character, I had spent much longer! Coming to this realization, my stomach growled for food. I quickly grabbed my clothes, rushed to the bathroom, and took one of the quickest showers of my life.

"Look who finally wakes up! How late did you stay up last night?" My mother questioned me while serving me a plate of pancakes with cut strawberries, bananas, and topped with blueberry syrup.

"Technically, I went to bed at 1:00 last night. However, I didn't wake up till a little before you had him," lazily pointed at my little brother, "wake me up." I shrugged and realized that I was being a smartass to my mother, but I quickly drowned my worry taking my first bite of the breakfast in front of me. Maybe it's because of the fact that I hadn't have eaten anything since breakfast the day before, that the food is exceptionally delicious this morning. Before I even realize it, I finish chowing down my stack of pancakes, and rub my stomach as the familiar feeling of being full engulfs me.

I pull my chair back from the table, get up, and rinse off my plate. "Thank, that was delicious" I smile heading towards the door.

"I think you were just saying that because you were hungry!" My mother teased. Though she was partially right, I've always liked my mother's cooking, but I especially loved it today. I leave my remark to myself and walk outside, the familiar cool breeze welcoming me, as I start my jog.

I always go for a jog in the mornings for multiple reasons. The first one, is so that my little brother can't outrun me. It's a childish reason, but I don't care. The second is to stay healthy. For the past few summers, I would sit around lazily and play too many MMO's and would have to diet during the school year to get healthy again, just for the pattern to start all again once school was out. But the third, and most important, was that it gave me time to think. Sometimes I'd think of politics and how the economy was doing... Rarely, other times I'd think of how my life was doing, and my current school academics, this time I was thinking of SAO.

According to the manual, there are thousands of skills to learn within this game. Ranging from your usually combat skills, to some other skills like scan, or hide, which can be the make-or-break in some combat scenarios, and it even has the profession skills, fishing, blacksmith, and cooking. Though I'm not really surprised that an MMORPG would have the skills, I'm surprised at the fact, that a game as errersive as SAO is suppose to be, would include such mundane skills as these. I shrug off my thoughts and get back to the main topic.

_What do I want to play?_ I guess you could say that I'm at least experienced with MMORPG's, so figuring out the play style of a character is very important to do as early as possible. Luckily, SAO doesn't have a class system, and the individuality is all determined by the Sword Skills you choose to level, and the governing attributes you increase which each level. Like many other MMORPG's, choosing the best attributes to most benefit your skills, is the way to separate yourself from the average players. Unlike most MMORPG's SAO doesn't have a magic system, nor are there any special ranged skills. Meaning that all of your combat will be face-to-face, only few feet from each other's avatars. Because of this, SAO only has a choice of a few different attributes to choose from; Strength, the most common in any RPG, it governs how much you can carry on your person, but also the damage you deal with each swing. Agility, how fast you move, and how long or far you can jump. It also branches off into different abilities such as wall running, or being able to climb next to impossible surfaces. Dexterity, how nimble you are in combat, and how fast you can swing your sword. Unlike most games RPG's where you want to choose one or the other, Strength and Dexterity tend to go hand-in-hand within SAO. Vitality, increasing the amount of maximum health gained per level up, and the amount of damage you can withstand. And finally Luck. Like most RPG's, Luck is the most underrated, overlooked attribute. By increasing your Luck, you not only increase the chance for rare drops, but also increase your chances for critical attacks. And like most people know, a critical attack can very easily turn an entire fight around. As previously mentioned, the game doesn't have "classes" that you have to choose from, so I can choose to hoard my spending my attributes until I have a good idea on what style I want to play.

There will be players out there who'll, more than likely, spend the points equally on the attributes, causing them to be able to do anything, within an average level. However, those players play the game for the fun, and enjoyment it brings. Then you have people like me, who take games to a whole new level, by only raising certain states by a certain level, in order to minimize wasted points, and to create a character that's amazing at doing the thing he does, but is poor at doing anything else. The way I'll probably build my character is high Str, and Dex, with medium Vit, and Luck, a very effective build.

I'm not sure how many times a circled my block, but my watch had beeped, signalling that it was time to stop jogging, and to head home and take another shower. My entire walk home, I continued to ponder on how I should build my character.

"Hey, you're back!" My little brother exclaimed. I looked up, startled for a moment, but relaxed to see him waving at me. I waved back, and entered the house.

"You're not just going to hide in your room again, are you?" My mother was scowling at me, and used that tone of voice, saying she has authority. I gulped.

"I just spend a lot of money on my game, and I'd like to be able to play it. Plus, it's not like I just sit around playing games, I actually play competitively, and make a lot of money from it. So much money, in fact, that I've never had to ask of you for anything after you helped me with my first computer, and I have enough money saved up to pay for my own college. So while I already have a good future ahead of me, and I'm still making money, why can't I play the game, that I bought?!" I realized I was yelling and looked away in both embarrassment and frustration.

My mother just looked with very saddened eyes, on the tears of crying. I immediately felt a wave of regret, before my mother opened her mouth, her voice quivering with rage.

"Don't EVER talk back to your mother like that! I swear! Your father accepting that job and causing us to move overseas was the WORST thing that has happened to this family! Fine, you know what?! Be that way! If you're so confident that you don't need me anymore, then you can start paying, and making, your own food, pay for your own clothes, and start paying for the rent, utilities, and internet expenses, because believe me, paying for your high speed internet is NOT CHEAP!"

"FINE! I think I WILL! I'll be going to my room now!" I yelled back, and immediately ran to my room, shutting the door before letting out a huge sigh. Though I feel bad, I figured I'll just apologize to her once we've all calmed down. I checked my watched and was happy to see that there was still plenty of time for my shower, before the servers were online. So I grabbed my clothes and took a nice relaxing shower. Afterwards, I hooked myself up to the NerveGear, and stared at the time.

The minutes began to roll by, what seemed like hours. I began to literally count the seconds remaining in anticipation, before the clocked finally ticked 1:00. I took a deep breath. _This is it! _I smiled and issued the wakeup command that I had calibrated just 24 hours ago.

"Link Start!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter two**

First I see a white screen, the normal system checks shortly follow, once everything checks out, I'm then greeted with a gray screen followed by black bold letters, taking up the majority of the middle screen.

"**Welcome to Sword Art Online"**

Then the screen fades into black, and I feel a calm wind blowing against me, and the sensation of the sun's rays reflecting onto my skin. _Wait. I can feel this?!_ Then sound suddenly appeared from nowhere. The once silent place bursting with different voices, by the sound of it, it sounded like there were many people here. Finally the blackness began to disappear, and I stared at the ground beneath me. I looked at the small, fractured scratches and edges on the, otherwise, perfect stone flooring. Continuing my gaze, I noticed a green bar that didn't belong. As soon as I saw it, a realization rushed through me.

I'm in the game.

Looking back at the ground, I could now see how it's so perfect it looks fake, yet I'm still breathtaken by the detail of it. Even my computer, which is running top-of-the-line specs, would crash trying to pull off such rendering. _How powerful is this server, to be able to have such detail loaded everywhere?!_ I finally look up and see the huge, fantasy style, buildings and many players chatting with each other. Though the ground looked so detailed, I noticed that everything else, including the ground, still looked amazing and vibrant, but didn't look, nearly, as detailed as before. I looked back at the ground, the detail like everything else. I decide to take a closer look, and focused on nothing but the ground. That's when it happened. The ground looked very detailed much more.

_Of course! If the amount of pixels was THIS high all the time, it would cause server lag, or even crashes. That's why it only intensifies the amount of pixels, only with close observation. Much like the real world._

Spending so much time being amazed by the detail I finally notice that I'm smelling something. _This really is amazing. It feels so real!_ I raise my hand over my head, surprised to actually feel the muscles at work and my hand being raised, I swipe down holding my thumb and index together, and with a small chime the menu appears in front of me. Though the manual explained where everything was, I still practiced navigating through the menu.

Seeing my equipment, I noticed that I had plenty of starting Col (the currency) with no equipment, so I looked around to find an armor and weapons shop. I was in luck, roughly 20 meters away. So I raised my foot and took my first step. To my surprise, it was much easier and natural than I had thought, and I quickly make it to the shop.

"Greetings! Welcome to my shop! Would you like a look at my wares?" He started to list his most popular items and prices.

"Yeah. I'd like to see what you have." I was confused. I doubt that talking to him would be the way to go, considering that it would be a lot of coding for the developers to do. However I didn't see any notifications or options so it was the only thing I could think of.

"Please exam the item you wish to purchase." It was after he said this, that I noticed armor and weapons on display. I went to touch a shield and a small box appears showing the shield's name, which was "iron kiteshield", its durability, and stat increases. Finally I noticed the price and a small box with the blue circle (accept) and the red X (decline). I pressed the circle, and the shield appeared in my inventory, as well as the amount of Col depleted from the difference of the price for the shield.

Such a simple transaction, yet I felt a wave of pleasure, like I truly went to a store and purchased the item. I quickly scan the store and found some light armor. Realizing that daggers would easily beat heavy armor, I decide to go for leather armor to have full mobility. Finally I put my gaze on a longsword that, along with some food, takes up the rest of my starting money. I open up my inventory and equip my newly obtained items.

Being fully equipped I walked back to the center of the town, where the only landmark was a great fountain.

"Hey!" I was given a sharp smack on the back. "You seem to know what you're doing! Show me the ropes?"

"I don't really know much about-" I turned around to see a cute girl looking at me, pleading for my assistance. These people make me sick, pretends to be a lost girl so that they can milk everything they can. From a closer perspective, I can see she has some good quality equipment on her. "I think you've already received the help you need." I respond coldly.

"Wh-WHAAT?! What do you mean?" Already she broke the act... pitiful.

"Yep. I've seen through your act. Tell you what. If you beat me in a duel, I won't spread the word that you're a fraud."

She crosses her arms in defeat. "Fine!" She says annoyingly. "And if I win, you're buying me some gear!" I looked at my remaining Col, I didn't have enough to purchase anything, so I just nodded. "Good!" She navigates her menu with ease and challenges me to a duel.

I clicked the accept button and a 60 second timer appeared. People must have noticed because within that minute, we were surrounded by people, waiting to see our duel.

I readied my weapon. This would be my first combat here. Better a duel with nothing to lose, than some monster. 3...2...1... She charged with lightning speed, her dagger raised to her chest, and... _glowing?_ I'm caught off guard only for a split second, before I'm able to predict where her dagger will go, arround the torso for a quick kill, and raise my shield to block. She quickly fills the gap between us and thrusts her dagger towards my shield with inhuman speed. The inpact of the dagger against my shield caused myself to stagger back. She took the opportunity, and tried to stab me again, this time I knocked her dagger the other way using my sword. Once more she readied her dagger and thrusts it towards me in blinding speed, the dagger becoming a small blur in her hand, she had a smile of victory on her face.

As the dagger shot it's way towards me, my body reacted before I even knew it. With my shield ready in my left hand, I stepped back with my left foot, putting the shield in position at the same time. Then when her dagger struck my shield I shifted my weight to my right side, stepping forward with my right, and swinging hard striking her shoulder.

Her eyes bulged in horror. She had been hit, but she wasn't done. She went to stab me again, but I had done the same thing. Step back, block, step forward, swing. Eventually her health reached the yellow and the duel was over.

"Looks like I won." I sheathed my sword. After some cheering the crowd of players all left, and was just me and this girl.

"Listen... I'll do ANYTHING if you don't tell people of my act!" She looks at me with desperate eyes. I look away, the more I look at her, the more angry I get.

After a long breath I finally say. "Give me your equipment. They look much better than mine." My voice calm and quiet.

"My equipment?! Do you know how hard-"

"YOU CONNED PEOPLE OUT OF THEIR STARTING MONEY SO THAT YOU CAN HAVE BETTER EQUIPMENT! FOR WHAT?! CHEATING PEOPLE OUT OF MONEY IS NOT HOW YOU PLAY A GAME! PEOPLE LIKE YOU MAKE ME SICK!" I take another deep breath, the sudden silence made me realize that I was shouting and everyone found out. She must have come to this realization as well, she had sunk to her knees and tears were building in her eyes. Everyone now knew she was a fraud.

"D-do I still have to give my equipment to you?" Tears were trailing down her cheeks, her bangs were covering her eyes.

I felt a pain in my heart as a saw her like this. She broke down in the middle of this grand city, inside a videogame. Here, a human being was truly sad about this whole thing. I wasn't staring at an avatar whom we could only communicate via typing or emotes, I was staring at a shaking body, at tears trickling to the ground. Any other game, I would never have hesitated, but today... it was different.

"What," My voice was weak. I cleared my throat before continuing. "What do you need that equipment for?"

"My friend said that I needed to get the best equipment I could... He said that if I didn't, I'd have a very hard time playing this game. Then when he told me about the starting amount of Col, I did the math, and found that if I had conned this many people then I'd be able to get the best equipment in the shops." She started to wipe the tears from her eyes.

"Wait... Was your friend a beta tester?!" This is much different than I had thought. Though she's still conning people, she isn't feeling bad about the con, but more of, she's feeling bad about not being able to catch up with her friend...

"Yeah. He was. He said that I should get the best equipment as soon as possible so that I could start harvesting some of the rare drops around the starting area." She had calmed down now.

"So what were you planning to do about the people that gave you their starting Col? You know that they can't go out without any equipment. They have no way of gaining money." My voice started raising in anger once more. Why was I so passionate about making sure people had their starting Col? Because those could be potential fighters that could give me a good challenge someday, that I will never be able to fight against.

"I... Hadn't thought of that..." She looks back down, covering her eyes again.

"You know what you should do, right?" She shook her head, and I let out a sigh. "You should sell that equipment, then go out and fight the monsters outside, sell the venders trash, and then give that money back to the people you stole it from."

"But that would take forever! My friend would already be way ahead of me by then!"

"Then tell him the situation, and explain that it'll be awhile before you can join him-"

"-I already know of the situation, and I don't like it at all!" I turn towards the low growl, and see a player with his sword raised at me. His armor was much different from mine, which only makes me cringe. _He's no different. He did the exact same thing!_

"So you're the person who taught her to use such tactics?!" My hand was shaking in rage.

"I only allowed her to use her assets to the fullest! No man can resist the lost eyes of a young, pretty, female player who has lost her way! I wanted to help her!"

"HELP HER?! Teaching her to con is NOT helping her!" I unsheathed my weapon in my anger. "If you really wanted to help her, you should have told her of a good place to grind for money, for XP, or for drops, not to con. Once everyone realizes she's a fraud, she will lose her only means of income!"

"That's why I was going to show her the places, AFTER she had obtained her equipment, which from the looks of her, it looks like she's ready!"

"No, I won't allow you to do this!"

"What can you do?! You're just a noob player, you can't possibly have a full grasp on the situation, on just how hard this game truly is!"

"We'll see about that!" I quickly opened my menu, and challenged this player to a duel.

He smirks. "Very well. But we fight with my rules!" He clicks the decisive duel. A duel to the death. Whoever loses this duel, will have XP loss. I put my sword at the ready, and the timer appears over our heads once more. He draws a long two handed sword, and we wait, once the timer finishes counting down, he charges at me with blinding speed, his sword at the ready, and a crowd surrounds me once more.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

As I watched another boar shatter into thousands of pieces, I can't help but feel uneasy about this situation. Though the new armor is nice, I don't think that I should've gotten his equipment from a duel, and I've yet to see him again. _Perhaps he's learned his lesson._

"I wonder how he's doing?" I sigh remembering the worst part of this current situation. The girl from before, who addresses herself as Jane, hasn't left my side since that duel.

I shrug. "He's probably out trying to get better equipment." That's what I keep telling myself, but I still feel uneasy about having his armor. Normally, it would have shattered, but there was still just a little bit of durability left. Enough for me to take it to the blacksmith to get it fixed. "But more importantly, why are you still here?"

Jane sheaths her daggers. "Well... I don't know what else to do right now..." She looks away. "He was my friend, yet you, someone I just met, protected me and actually cared for me. Then when I expected him to come back... He never did. He left me to fight alone, knowing I had no knowledge of the game... That duel... it felt like he was really going to kill you."

With that last remark I think back to that duel. He had charged at me with amazing speed and had swung at my torso for a quick kill, however I had anticipated the action and blocked his sword with my shield, but the swing had plenty of momentum behind it, or perhaps a high strength attribute, and caused me to stagger back. He took the opening and slashed at my right shoulder, I dodged to the left, but the attack still grazed it.

By instinct I let out a grunt, but I realized that I didn't feel any pain, however my shoulder had tensed up a bit. Whether this is because I thought it should happen, or if the system does it for us, I've yet to figure out. He readied his sword, holding it over his head for a devastating attack. I was scared, and thinking back it was really risky, but I took the opportunity and shield bashed him square in the chest. He staggered back, and fell down due to the weight of his sword.

I had let myself succumb to my pure rage, dropping my knee on his chest, pinning him to the ground, he should have had the strength to throw me off of him, but he was paralyzed in fear. I lashed at his head, I had swung my sword with no restraint, slash after slash. There was no escape for him, and his body had glowed a bright blue. That sudden glow had gotten me out of my rage, but only in time to see his body shatter into thousands of pieces.

There wasn't any cheering that time, only the look of terror and complete silence came from the crowd. I didn't blame them, it was a terrifying move on my part, and I immediately regretted it. That's when I noticed the new armor in my inventory, but before I had the chance to investigate.

"Y-You monster! What kind of fight was THAT?!" A female player had finally broken the silence, followed by the entire crowd making rude comments, some very vulgar, I couldn't take it and ran, ran as far as I could...

I guess she followed me.

"What I did was unforgivable. It's just a game, yet I had pinned him down... There's no honor or true strength there..."

"But it was all for me" she clasps her hands to her heart.

But I just shook my head. "No, you're wrong. I'm not some zealous knight, punishing the unlawful and protecting the innocent. I did it, because I thought that those players could be great fighters that I'd never fight..." She just stared at me. "Sword Art Online isn't my first MMO. In fact, I happen to play very competitively and have even won tournaments. I bought SAO for the sole purpose of becoming the best there is. But I guess... playing MMO's so much, I've become bitter. I get absorbed in the great fights, and become irritated when I'm not fighting. I feel like I'm wasting my time... And it's because of that I apologize for being such an ass, and I should apologize to my mother as well." I open my menu.

"Wait... What's your name?"

"My name is Alexander. But you can call me Alex for short. My gamertag is TheGreatAlexander. It's corny, but I've used it since I was little, and I've become famous with that name as well."

"Alexander, huh?" She pauses. "Though your incentive may have not been to help me, you have, so I'm in your debt. Anyway, I've kept you long enough. I hope to see you soon, Alex."

I nod. "I shouldn't be too long... and thanks. You should look up some of my videos sometime." I wave. "Anyway, I shouldn't be gone long." I click the logout button... then I click it again... "That's strange..."

"What's wrong?"

"I can't log out!" I show her the missing button where it should be.

"WHAT?!" She quickly opens her menu. "Mine's not there either! What's going on?"

"I don't know... but if we can't logout, it could be problematic."

"Yeah..." She sinks to her knees. I took the time to really see her for the first time. Her, straight, light brown hair, down to her shoulder blades, flows with the gentle breeze. Her choice of armor is a simple tunic with a blue skirt, her slim figure makes her look really good in it.

Her body starts to shake, and I'm reminded that she's upset. "It... It could be a bug." I finally say. "I don't think they'd trap us in the game. I'm sure that many players are trying to get a hold of a GM to get this fixed."

"I-I hope so." _Why have I grown so comfortable with the girl I just dueled a couple of hours ago?_ As the thought continued to linger, the background music abruptly stopped, and a bell could be heard from nowhere, yet it rang everywhere.

"Huh? What's going on?" I look around but I don't see anything out of the ordinary.

Jane screams and lashes herself into my chest. "What's going on?" Blushing a little bit, I look down at the slim girl against me.

She glows a bright blue.

"I-I don't know!" I notice that I begin to glow aw well, and the land around us starts to melt away. The huge grassland being replaced by an almost perfect tiling with fantasy style buildings. "No way, a forced teleport, what's going on?" I look around and notice that a lot of players were teleported here, possibly every player.

I fix my gaze on the girl still clinging to my chest. "Uhh... You can let go now." But she only tightens the grip. I feel myself blushing again. _When did I start feeling so comfortable around this girl, she's been doing nothing but clinging onto me since that duel. Normally I'd have told her to go away by now, what makes it different? Could it be the beauty of her avatar? No, I've had pretty avatars cling to me before. Perhaps it's because she's able to show emotions without pre made emotes? Or maybe, it's because I know she's a strong fighter, and that I hope to duel her again. _I wrap my arms around her slim body, feeling that she had more of a curve than the tunic shows.

I look back up to see a red polygon with black bold letters in its center.

"**Warning: System Announcement"**

This polygon blinked for a few seconds before dying the sky red with thousands of them. From the center, red ooze began to drip down. At first it was just a drop at a time, but then it started to pour out this ooze that, with the help of some lightning effects, forms a giant, cloaked, humanoid figure with a shadow where the face should be visible.

Everyone just stared in fear.

"Players!" His deep voice bellows through the whole city. "Welcome to my world!"

_His world? Then he must be-_

"I am Kayaba Akihiko, the only person who controls this world!"

_Only person?! How's that possible?_

Most of you have discovered that the Logout button has disappeared from the Main Menu. This is not a bug, but is a part of Sword Art Online's system!

Jane jumped a little.

"The only way to log yourself out," Kayaba continues, "is to clear the top floor"

He had grabbed everyone's attention at this point.

"...Also, disrupting or dismantling the NerveGear from the outside is strictly forbidden. If it is attempted, then the signal sensors will emit a strong electromagnetic pulse, destroying your brain."

I shake a little and Jane tightens her grip. It's true, the electromagnetic waves work very similar to a microwave, so if they were to up the power, it'd be a very simple process to fry the brain.

"Sadly 213 players have already exited this game, and the real world forever.

_T-Two hundred thirteen players, dead?! There's no way they could have died here which means..._ I drop to my knees. _I... I killed him. It's one thing to make someone have to respawn in a graveyard... but he'll never come back._ I look down at Jane, who must have come to the realization.

"Alex... don't blame yourself... you couldn't have known."

"But I killed your friend! He's never coming back, and I'm to blame" My voice weakens.

"Alex, please. Stay strong!" _This isn't making sense. Isn't this usually the part where I'm pushed away, and to leave and never to come back? But instead... she's trying to comfort me, she is looking at the situation rationally, despite the feeling of loss. It'd be so easy to just let loose her emotions, yet she isn't... Why? _"If you knew he'd die for good, would you have dueled him, and he was the one who clicked "decisive duel"... You've done nothing wrong..." I couldn't say anything more... not now.

"Now, there is no need to worry about the bodies you left on the other side. As of now, the media is spreading the word not to disrupt the NerveGears. Also, I'll have a two hour break, where your bodies will be transported to hospitals so you can focus on clearing the game.

"Finally, Sword Art Online is a second reality, if your HP drops to zero, you will die, and consequently, the sensor's will fry your brain. The only way to leave the game, is to clear all one hundred floors."

All 100 floors. Every battle possibly being your last. Taking every battle seriously. This wouldn't be easy, nor a quick task.

"Now to show you evidence that this is the the only reality, I have given each of you a gift."

I opened my menu and a notification popped up, asking if I wanted to accept the gift. Whether I thought it was a trap or not, I was curious enough to click accept, and a small blue hand mirror materialized into my right, gloved, hand. I looked through the mirror and saw my reflection. The face of the avatar I chose. I looked around and noticed that everyone, including Jane and myself, became engulfed in a blue light, and emerged differently. Some only changed a little bit, while the most drastic changes were male characters in women's clothing. I looked at my mirror and see my reflection, my face from the real world. I looked down at Jane who was looking at me. Surprisingly, I didn't notice a single difference. _Must be nice to look good._

"So that's what you look like?" She touches the small amount of facial hair on my chin, and cups my cheek. I blush quite a bit. Though I've had admirers in games before, I could only see emotes and imagine the interactions. However, I could feel her soft, warm, hand against my cheek.

_This woman keeps surprising me. _Kayaba's deep voice brings me back to reality.

"Now why have I, Kayaba Akihiko, developer of Sword Art Online, and the NerveGear be doing this? The answer, is to create and watch this world.

... Now I have finished the official tutorial for Sword Art Online. Players-I wish you luck." With his last remark, he turns back into his ooze like shape, and disappears into the red polygon once more. Now that the GM was gone, the polygons disappeared and the blue sky showed again.

All the players began to scream and panic, even Jane buried her face in my chest. "Alex... I think I should tell you about him." I nod. "But not here. Let's go somewhere else." She gets up and walks toward one of the restaurants, I follow close behind.


End file.
